A Working Group of NIH (North American National Health Institute) that is discussing the ending of the use of chimpanzees in medical research in the country will meet on September 5th. There are still 937 chimpanzees in U.S. laboratories, 10 to 20% of them are still being absurdly tortured in invasive procedures that never gave practical results. The others are waiting to be definitely free, putting an end in the possibility of returning to surgical tables, which had been their fate in the past.

Dr. Theodora Capaldo, president of the organization NEAVS (New England Anti-Vivisection Society), which struggles through Project R & R to retire all chimpanzees definitely from medical torture, sent a very explicative correspondence to the members of the Working Group of NIH.

Summing up her arguments, one can say that in more than 50 years of using of chimpanzees in medical torture, nothing substantial had been achieved in terms of scientific results that really has helped the fight against HIV, Hepatitis C, cancer and other diseases.

It is clear that chimpanzees are not a useful or ideal model for use in biomedical research. Unfortunately, after slaughtering hundreds of their lives, we come to this conclusion and still have doubts – not the vast majority of society, but a small group who directs NIH – if our fellow primates may be helpful in medical research.

According to Dr. Capaldo, one third of the chimpanzees in laboratories is old and most are so stressed by the infamous life they have that this leads to pathological and physiological reactions, which converts them into invalid models for humans.

Another interesting revelation is that the vast majority of chimpanzees that spent years being tortured in laboratories, and then was sent to sanctuaries, ended up dying there. The results of autopsies detected deep chronic diseases in their bodies, proving that the research centers were using sick beings as if they were normal.

If there is any trace of sanity and sensitivity in NIH board members, which has already made very important contributions for the cure of human diseases on the planet, must be to free these  937 brothers primates, who are waiting desperately to live the last years of their agonizing lives in peace.

Related news:

https://secure3.convio.net/neavs/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=208

https://www.projetogap.org.br/en-US/noticias/Show/4031,chimps-days-in-labs-may-be-dwindling